Previously, vending machines of the type which held and displayed products on horizontal shelves have been constructed with a plurality of vertically stacked trays having a fixed number of partition areas on each tray for holding products to be vended. The horizontal shelves permitted display and vending of products having various shapes and sizes, such as fruit, sandwiches, prepared salads, prepared dinner plates, dairy products in containers, fruit drink cans, or other varieties of items which are not necessarily foodstuffs. At each vertical level, there was an openable door behind which a desired partitioned area could be positioned. Payment of a required fee and selection of a particular product by moving the partitioned area to the door permitted the door to be opened for removing the product.
One such device provided a plurality of rotatable circular trays with a display window and a single openable door at each level. The items could be selected by rotating the tray past the display window until a desired selection was adjacent to the openable door. Payment of the indicated purchase price allowed the door to be opened so that the selected item could be removed. Each separate tray would be partitioned into a plurality of product holding areas, each the same size as the others. Upon payment of the appropriate price for a product on a given tray, the vending door was openable only to the extent required to reach the product. In this manner, any given tray would be stocked with products of substantially equal size and equal value so that payment of the amount of money indicated for all of the items on a given tray would allow the door to be opened. A degree of variability was accomplished by providing a door with capabilities of pre-setting its opening size. A small opening was set corresponding to small partitioned areas, and a larger opening was set corresponding to larger partitioned areas. Trays at different levels could have different size partitioned areas, but all of the partitioned areas on a single tray had to be the same size. A given tray construction could be variably partitioned to accommodate different sizes, provided the entire tray was partitioned with the same size areas. A single preset opening size was needed for the entire tray at each level.